Single Unit Activity of the Auditory Cortex

The single unit technique is a relatively recent development which involves recording the temporal pattern of nerve impulse discharges from individual neurons. Its use in investigating the auditory cortex has provided a more detailed picture of the activity of the population of cortical neurons than that obtainable by previous techniques. The advantage of a more detailed look at cortical neural activity is tempered by the need for the collection and processing of great volumes of data. The researcher is usually aided by a computer, but even so, as we shall see, the diversity of the properties of the individual elements is such that the task of obtaining a reasonably systematic picture of the functional aspects of the cortical population appears Herculean. Developing theories or finding models for the functional properties of the auditory cortical neurons is equally difficult.